


Spring Came To My Life (With More Than One Heart)

by Kalcifer



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/F, The Lindworm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29233161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a kingdom that had ambitions of becoming an empire. Predictably, this does not go well. The giant snake is a surprise, though
Relationships: Adaire Ducarte/Hella Varal
Comments: 3
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my feeble attempt at Fairy Tale Femslash Februrary, where I bounce wildly between concepts in an attempt to get them all at least started when they're still thematically relevant. We're starting off with the lindworm, because who doesn't like a giant snake that eats people.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom that had ambitions of becoming an empire. As things stood, though, it was having trouble continuing as a kingdom, as the king and queen had no heir. In desperation, the queen searched for the strongest sorcerer in the land, and demanded that he help her.

Now, the queen had a warlike heart, and she had judged the sorcerer’s strength by his power over death, which was great. However, he held less sway with life. He was only able to offer the queen two pearls, one black and one red. “If you eat the black one,” he said, “you will have a child who is honest and caring. Your kingdom will prosper through diplomacy, alliances growing as if from the rich black soil.

“If you eat the red pearl, you will instead have a child who is strong and determined. There will be no greater fighter in all the world, and songs will be sung of the swathes of flowing red blood left in their path.”

The queen pretended to deliberate. “I would need to confer with my husband,” she said. “May I have them both?”

“Yes, but take care only to eat one. I cannot shape two such destinies for two such children at once.”

The queen nodded solemnly and took the pearls, already dreaming of the future they would guarantee for the kingdom.

She had scarcely arrived back at the palace before she had swallowed the red pearl. It tasted of iron and ash, and she knew it could raise the kingdom to an empire as she and her husband had dreamed. Caught up in fantasies, her gaze turned to the black pearl. Someone would have to take care of the kingdom while the fighter was away, and diplomacy could win over those who would not be swayed by force.

Ignoring the sorcerer’s warning, she swallowed the black pearl, too, savoring the taste of pine and snow on her lips.

As the months crept past, it soon became clear that the sorcerer had lived up to his word. The queen would have a child. She and the king spent hours discussing how best to ensure their heir would be worthy of continuing an empire. She didn’t tell him about the pearls, preferring to let him believe their children’s greatness was the result of their upbringing.

Finally the day came, and the queen delivered her twins. The younger was round-faced and rosy-cheeked, though there was a strangeness to his features, a hint of otherworldliness.

His oddness was overshadowed by his elder sibling, though. Where the young prince was still recognizably human, with his parents’ rich brown skin and straight nose, the elder child was a monster, a serpent clad in blood red scales. It made pitiful mewling sounds, as if mimicking a baby’s cry.

The queen was horrified. Though her head was quick to blame the sorcerer, in her heart she knew her own avarice had caused this. And so, rather than admit to her rash mistake, she ordered her maids to drive the monster out of the castle. She would present the younger child to her husband, and they would raise him as their heir. No one would learn that anything out of the ordinary had happened on that day.

As the monster fled from the room, the boy’s cries grew louder, as if he knew his twin was being torn from him.


	2. Ultimatum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prince comes of age.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear one of the women I've tagged for will show up next chapter.

Throndir had known that he wasn’t the child his parents wanted for what felt like his whole life. He was too earnest, too eager, too easily led. He would never march an army to conquer in his name.

That didn’t stop them from trying to mold him into that child anyway. He was pressed into bulky armor, shuffled between instructors, trotted out at official events under strict orders to stick to a script of pleasantries. It didn’t matter that he was better with a bow than a sword, or more comfortable in settings without all the rules and hidden traps of court. His own strengths weren’t the right ones.

Once, when he was young enough that he could later dismiss the memory, he heard his mother mutter something to herself about how this was all her fault. How she should have taken the assurance of glory over some mild weakling.

He tried even harder in his lessons that month. He wanted to prove that he was worth it after all, that she shouldn’t give up on him yet. It didn’t make a difference, of course. His problem had never been lack of effort.

He never complained about their expectations. After all, he was a prince. He was safe and comfortable and powerful. He wasn’t about to act ungrateful just because he had to do a few things to earn those privileges.

Besides, he thought in his bitterest moments, who would he complain to? Most of the court was of the same mind as his parents, or too afraid of them to disagree. There was no one who would pay attention to his side of the story. The closest thing he had to a friend was one of the castle guards, and even then, Hadrian was clearly more interested in doing his job than humoring a lonely teenager.

It was no wonder then that Throndir felt a deep and gaping emptiness. It had followed him as long as he could remember, a sense that something was missing, that he lacked some essential piece of him that would make him complete and proper. He was sure it was just loneliness. He’d get used to it eventually.

He kept telling himself that for years, even as he gave up on impressing the queen. It still came as a shock when she told him he was engaged. “It’s an important alliance, and we’re counting on you to cement it,” she said. “Besides, I hear the younger prince is stubborn and passionate. Maybe he’ll be a good influence on you.”

Oh good, Throndir thought. There went any chance that he’d finally have an ally at court. He could only hope his fiance was more subtle about his disdain than Throndir’s parents were.

But he’d spent his life ignoring his own desires and telling himself it was for the good of the kingdom, so he saddled his horse and rode out to formally ask for his groom-to-be’s hand.

He might have been relieved that he was stopped, if he wasn’t afraid for his life. Blocking his path was a massive red serpent. Its scales shone like polished metal, and when it spoke, its teeth were sharper than Throndir’s arrows. “A bride for me before a groom for you,” it said, and its voice was perhaps the most terrible thing of all. It was harsh and unyielding, the demand carrying the clear undertone of a threat. It was also the most soothing thing Throndir had ever heard. Even as he searched for a pattern to the serpent’s movements, desperate for a window to escape, a corner of his mind whispered that he’d finally found a home.

He ignored it to run back to the place he’d known his whole life, His parents were unimpressed to see him back, but that was a sting he was familiar with.

When he explained what had happened, the queen’s face went pale, though her scowl was as fierce as ever. “It’s that sorcerer’s fault,” she said.

She told the story without flinching: how she’d turned to magic to guarantee a future for the kingdom, and how the sorcerer had tricked her, promised her a child and then produced a monster. “We’re lucky you turned out as normal as you did,” she told Throndir, in what might have been the first time she’d expressed approval of him. He couldn’t bring himself to enjoy it.

The king sighed. “Monstrous as this creature may be, it is our firstborn. It has the right to marry before our son.”

“We’ll simply have to get it out of the way, then,” the queen said grimly. “Write to one of our dukes, and offer our child’s hand for his daughter. I doubt he’ll think to ask questions.”

“But -” Throndir began.

“We can’t afford to delay your wedding,” the queen said. “You know how important it is.”

“Yes, mother,” Throndir said. Quietly, he resolved to stick close to his new sister-in-law, and do everything he could to help her adjust to life at court. That was at least one thing his upbringing had prepared him for.

He didn’t know what they told her before the wedding, but though her voice trembled and tears soaked through her veil, she affirmed that she would marry the serpent. It ignored her through the subsequent feast, intent on its apparent mission to work the cooks to exhaustion. Throndir wasn’t seated close enough to speak to her, but he offered a sympathetic smile whenever she glanced in his direction.

As the festivities drew to a close, the serpent allowed itself to be led to the room prepared for it, followed by its trembling bride. It hadn’t said a word since the ceremony had ended.

The next morning, the only trace of the duke’s daughter was a strand of hair lying upon her pillow. Once again, the serpent demanded, “A bride for me before a groom for you.”

Throndir felt sick to his stomach. He knew his parents would agree. A trail of bodies meant nothing to them in the face of their goals, and Throndir was such a convenient excuse.

The serpent stayed curled up within its room all day. Throndir paced the length of his and told himself he didn’t want to speak with a monster.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably not going to keep up this style for future chapters but it seemed like the right way to introduce the premise.


End file.
